Tag Archives: noodles

Why another post about Korean food, you ask? Because it’s awesome, that’s why. And when I need my fix for Asian food, Korean is right on the top there (although not surpassing Dim Sum, because that stuff is like crack).

Today Robert and I made Japchae (or our version of it). Japchae is Korean glass noodles tossed with stir-fried vegetables and meat, seasoned with soy sauce and sesame oil.

Preparing some of the ingredients

After boiling the noodles and blanching the spinach. Once the noodles were cooked I found out we bought the wrong noodles! I bought rice noodles, although it should have been potato starch noodles. BUT, since we’re not the type to waste, we happily used what we had!

Stir-frying the veggies. Traditionally Japchae is made by stir-frying each individual vegetable separately, one after the other, but a hungry tummy means finding a short cut!

Tossing it all together. It got a little messy…

The finished dish. We decided to top it off with some seasoned wakame (not really Korean, but delicious nonetheless).

In a large pot with boiling water, boil noodles as per instructions on package. Remove noodles from water when cooked and place into a large bowl. Use the same boiling water to quickly blanch your spinach, then drain spinach and add to noodles.

In a wok or large saute pan, heat up 1 tablespoon vegetable oil over medium heat and coat pan. Add marinated beef to pan and saute until cooked through, then drain the pan of liquid and add your beef to the bowl with the noodles.

Heat up pan again and heat up 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. When pan is hot, add carrots and onions, and saute until almost translucent. Add mushrooms and garlic to the pan, saute until soft. Add green onions to pan, saute until wilted, then add all vegetables to noodles.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sugar, red chili flakes, and 3 tablespoons sesame oil. Pour sauce over noodles and toss everything to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and top with wakame seaweed, if desired.

Today for breakfast Robert and I made spicy udon noodles with ground pork, tossed in a garlicky, spicy, and creamy sauce.

Mixing the sauce.

Mixing the pork in with the sauteed vegetables.

Tossing in the noodles and the sauce.

Breakfast is ready! The creaminess off the sauce balanced out with some of the spice, so it’s not too intense. Overall I would say this was a pretty good (and quick!) breakfast. I got the idea for this from Benihana’s Seafood Diablo, but this is definitely toned down a bit in the heat department; next time I make this I’ll remember to add some Sriracha to the sauce for an extra kick! With this recipe you can adjust any of the spices used to your taste.

Spicy Udon Noodles

makes 2 large servings

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 lb ground pork

1 Tablespoon grated ginger

1/4 large yellow onion, julienne

1 large red bell pepper, julienne

2 (7oz) packages of udon noodles

2 scallions, cut into 1″ pieces

for sauce:

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4-5 cloves garlic, pureed or chopped finely

1tsp paprika

2tsp cayenne powder

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

3-4 Tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

1tsp hot sauce of your choice

salt and pepper to taste

For sauce: combine mayo, garlic, paprika, cayenne, ginger, mustard, soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, and salt and pepper. Taste and add more heat as you like, and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil, add onions, cook until soft. Season pork with salt and pepper, and brown in skillet. While meat is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil, and cook noodles for 2-3 minutes, or as package directs, drain, and set aside. Add red pepper, grated ginger, and 1/3 of sauce mixture to skillet, saute until red pepper softens. Add drained noodles, scallions, and the rest of your sauce to the skillet, and toss to combine. Cook until scallions have wilted.